Post Match Leicester City 1 Burnley 0

I was merely responding to what you actually wrote. Quote: "Dublin is almost definitely the worst city I’ve ever been to." I think with hindsight you would probably agree that is not true. My comment on you not having travelled much was tongue-in-cheek. I don't think that you are crass and stupid, only that you are capable of occasionally making statements of that nature. Aren't we all? No hard feelings?

Click to expand...

Wee bit of hyperbole I suppose since I’ve also been to Tunica, Birmingham, Cincinnati and Detroit.

I suppose I’d say it’s the biggest gap in terms of expectations and actuality.

Terrific week for us. Six points from two tricky home games is very pleasing. We're now nearer to the top four than the bottom three and that's how it should be with the quality of squad we have. After a disappointingly sloppy start to the season, we seem to be finally getting somewhere.

The most interesting thing for me at the moment is just how much scope there is for improvement in this team. There are so many things that we could and should do better and yet we're still good enough to pick up results and generally look a solid team.

Our defending of corners in the first half was awful. I was hoping that we'd put Maguire up on the half way line for them as he was no use whatsoever at the back (he improved in the second half). So many times, I'm grateful for the defensive skills of Morgan and Simpson. My other annoyance is with our distribution. If we are going to attempt to pass better and retain possession better then Schmeichel either has to improve massively or go. Perverse as it seems, the same goes for Morgan and Simpson, they're just no good on the ball. We just cannot be effective at passing in our own half with those three.

I still think we'd benefit from playing three in midfield and I eagerly await the introduction of Silva. Another experienced and composed player in there will make a lot of difference. Mahrez was a delight today too. He is our magician and we're half the team without him.

I still don't know what to make of Puel. He is a tactical manager and when it's going well, he knows how to keep it that way (unlike his predecessor). He's struck very lucky to inherit a very good group of players and it's his job to develop them and help them to fulfil their capabilities. He's also been fortunate to go in front five times out of six. We've been a different side when we go ahead for a long time now. I'll wait to see if he can influence us when we're behind before getting too carried away.

The Tourist Board is really missing a trick here - Dublin: not actually as shit as Sunderland and Coventry.

It could really bring in the punters.

Isn't the issue really just that Temple Bar now seems set up to cater for drunken Brits and thus is pretty rubbish. And expensive.

Click to expand...

My one experience of Dublin was being stranded for hours at Dublin Connelly station on a Sunday in in the 1970’s due to a suspect bomb on the line to Belfast. The fact that I was lumping around a rucksack and a very heavy ex-army ammunition box didn’t help the situation. I decided to leave the ammo box in the station’s left luggage store and see a bit of the town. I wasn’t sure how the left luggage man (LLM) would react…

Me ‘Can I leave this box here for a couple of hours?’

LLM ‘Sure, its mighty heavy! What’s in it?’

Me ‘Rocks’

LLM ‘Ah – no problem then!’

That was only the beginning of my trip back to Belfast, but I was impressed with the LLM’s sangfroid, I was less than impressed with Dublin – but things may have changed since then.